BTW the HTC Hero supported tethering since Android 1.5, hence why i was confused. I didn't realise it was vendor specific before 2.2 because it seems all factory unlocked HTC's(and some carrier locked ones) have supported tethering since 1.5 without rooting.
http://insidesprintnow.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/hero_gsg....
Lol, had to look it up for my own piece of mind, i was sure i could remember tethering on my old Hero back in the day.